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Tuesday, March 08, 2016

Les Chesseurs Britanniques de Paris: Part 6 The Addendum

Just a quick addendum on the British Chess Club of Paris while Part 5 is still hot off the press and fresh in the memory, and before the series disappears from view to find its final resting place somewhere in the depths of the Blog's History archive.

This post-script is possible due, once again, to the generosity of Dominique Thimognier of Héritage des Échecs Français, who unearthed so much of the material that documents the activities of the BCCP - thus it is only right to thank him again. The snippets below are from him. I'll just mention also, en passant, how tolerant he has been of the liberties taken in the series with his mother tongue. A propos of the blogs as a whole he commented to me, with un peu d'humour français, that my faux pas here and there added "une petite touche
de charme britannique". Very drôle.

In Part 2 The Opposition we mentioned that the BCCP had taken a table at a 60 board simul by Alekhine in February 1932. It was held, in fact, at the Hotel Claridge - and, more importantly, the BCCP was one of the 17 teams that drew with the World Champion. Well done chaps - even if not one of the 6 that beat him.

For the sake of completion we can also add that on May 30 1931 the BCCP was one of 10 teams that played Alekhine in an earlier simul, sans voir, to raise funds for impecunious Russian students. Alekhine won 6, and drew 4. Sadly, this time our boys were among the losers. Here is the score of the Champ's comprehensive 19 move rout of l'équipe britannique: